Anti-smog gun is being used to sprinkle water, to curb pollution in New Delhi on January 7, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
The Delhi-National Capital region was the most preferred location to buy homes that cost between ₹2 crore to ₹20 crore in the second half of calendar year 2025 despite the air pollution crisis in the capital.
About 32% of the total homes that cost ₹2 crore to ₹5 crore that were sold in India were in NCR, according to the data from the Knight Frank report. This is despite a marginal dip in sales to 18,887 units on a year-on-year basis.
The share of Delhi in total sales increased in higher price segments. Six of every ten homes which belong to ₹5 crore to ₹10 crore category were sold in NCR. Similarly, 62% of the homes worth ₹10 crore to ₹20 crore were sold in Delhi.
In the luxury category which is ₹20 crore to ₹50 crore, Delhi had 17% of the home sales, but the segment was dominated by Mumbai with 66% of total sales. In the luxury segment, which Knight Frank considers to be more than ₹50 crore, 173 homes were sold in NCR and 56 in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
The highest share of NCR in India in most segments comes despite a 9% dip in sales and 16% decline in new launches in H2 2025, as against the corresponding period last year.
Although homes beyond ₹50 crore is considered ultra luxury, the cost per square foot of property differs in Mumbai and Delhi. The per square foot price of the costliest residential property in Mumbai was about 2.4 times the costliest property in Delhi, Knight Frank said. For instance, the costliest property at Greater Kailash II in Delhi was ₹40,000 a square foot. In Mumbai it was ₹95,354 a square foot.
Delhi has been consistently facing an air quality problem , with AQI crossing 500 ppm in winters. Despite this, high value segment contributed to the largest increase in sales across India in the second half of 2025, which implies that it would be the High Networth Individuals, high-end professionals, and entrepreneurs of India, who have driven property sales in India.
This assumes significant in a year when owners who listed their companies in the stock market, took home more than 60% of the money in 2025 by offloading their shares to the stock market. A part of this liquidity may have flown to high value real estate purchases in NCR and Mumbai.
The air pollution crisis in Delhi, the reasons and potential outcomes have gained political importance in India with the residents of Delhi protesting against the government flagging the toxins in the air. The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari also said in a recent event that a couple of days in Delhi gave him infections and vehicles were significant polluters. On the other hand, there has not been any dwindling in the purchase of high value property among the business elites of the country.
Published – January 07, 2026 10:00 pm IST
